ARTH418

This course offers an advanced and detailed look at some of the key issues of artistic theories and practice in early modern Italy (1400-1700). Covering a range of rhetorical concepts, intellectual traditions, workshop practices, artistic personalities, and so forth, the syllabus is both a presentation and re-translation of some of the key problems of the Italian Renaissance. Through selected readings and open discussions, we will visit not only household names such as Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Bernini but also the deep undercurrents of social-cultural issues that have presented both opportunities and challenges for art historical knowledge and interpretation.